Moon Dancing
by Raberba girl
Summary: Modern fantasy AU. Most of Hadley's time in Faerie is a nightmare, but at least there's one good thing about reconnecting with his magical heritage. Platonic Hiccup/Toothless.


**[Working title for the AU as a whole, in case I ever write more of it (though I'm pretty sure I won't):** _ **Moon Dancing**_ **]**

 _ **Lumineuse**_ _ **: Creeper**_ **(theme 16) [rough draft]**

 **A** **DreamWorks'** _ **How to Train Your Dragon**_ **fanfic by Raberba girl, written for Reku14's 100 Words** **challenge**

Summary: Modern fantasy AU. Most of Hadley's time in Faerie is a nightmare, but at least there's _one_ good thing about reconnecting with his magical heritage. Platonic Hiccup/Toothless.

o.o.o

Five-year-old Hadley Vast didn't know that his mother had been a fae, or why she wasn't around anymore. He didn't know that other children didn't hear the night music. All he knew was that when he woke up and heard the pipes, he must go outside and dance.

Clad in green pajamas printed with cartoon dragons, the little boy slipped out of bed, padded barefoot down the stairs, struggled with the lock on the front door for a moment, then bounded outside. Cool air rushed over his face, and the full moon shone overheard. Laughing, Hadley ran to the far end of the garden, finding by the time he got there that the flowers towered over him.

A winged boy with scales embedded in his dark skin rushed to meet him with a joyful cry. The child of Earth and the child of Faerie clasped hands, and then they whirled away with the music and danced until the stars began to fade.

Stoick Vast found his son just after dawn. The little boy was curled up on the dew-soaked grass, shivering in his sleep. Stoick carried Hadley to bed and set rowan and iron to guard his son, and burned the boy's books of fairy tales. He told Hadley that magic didn't exist so firmly and relentlessly that the child eventually came to believe it.

Until Hadley was fifteen years old, and the Unseelie came for him, and only after great distress did the child of two worlds escape their clutches and begin desperately seeking a way home.

o.o.o.o.o

 _'Fairyland sucks. Definitely some false advertising going on in all those kids' stories,'_ Hadley thought in irritation, pressing onward through the dark, unending forest. _'Though I guess it does depend on which versions you read. Thanks so much for deliberately cutting me off from useful info, Dad. It worked_ so _well to protect me from getting kidnapped by Mom's ancestral enemies who think my blood is just what they need to open a gate to hell.'_

The pain in his injured leg was getting worse and worse, the word 'starving' was no longer seeming like much of an exaggeration, he was covered with cuts and bruises, and he felt so _tired_. _'Who am I kidding. I'm never gonna make it home. They're gonna kill me just like they killed Mom.'_ He swallowed. _'_ Worse _than they killed Mom.'_

He stopped, peering through the oppressive mist. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched or followed, but since he had nothing to go on other than gut instinct, he had no clue whether he truly needed to worry or he was just being paranoid. _'It's Faerie. Definitely better to be safe than sorry.'_ Though it wasn't like he could do anything about it even if he _was_ being stalked or spied on...

Sometime later, he caught his first glimpse of it: a large black shape crouched in the trees, eyes glowing green and wings half spread. Hadley stopped dead when he saw it, his flesh crawling with an intense rush of fear.

The creature did not move or speak, and after a while, Hadley gathered up his courage and edged away.

To his astonishment and relief, the creature didn't attack, challenge, threaten, or even approach or speak to him. However, Hadley grew increasingly uneasy when the creature followed him at a steady distance, watching him intently, showing no sign of losing interest. For all Hadley knew, it could be a spy for the Unseelie court, or a predator who was biding its time until Hiccup was even more vulnerable, or silently calling the rest of its pack to help rip Hadley apart, or a vampire, or a monster who fed off fear, or a hallucination, or a tracker leading the way for its even more scary and dangerous master... After all the things Hadley had seen in this terrible world, nothing would surprise him. "Go away, please," he ventured.

The creature cocked its head.

"...Unless you know a way out of these woods." Hadley swallowed. He had learned the hard way that the fae took bargains very seriously, cheated if they could, and almost guaranteed danger for any transaction. Unfortunately, Hadley had no idea where he was, and would die if he didn't either get help or was blessed with a miracle. Miracles were in very short supply in this dark land.

"I...I don't have much to trade. Barely anything, actually. But if you tell me what you want, I'll _consider_ trading with you, _if_ you help me get somewhere I can be safe - physically _and_ mentally, and emotionally, and all the other ways - and where I have a chance of getting home. To Earth. Preferably as close as possible to the time and place I was kidnapped." Hadley, having discovered that specifics were very important in fey bargains, anxiously replayed the words in his head, hoping that he hadn't left any risky openings.

The creature gracefully dropped out of the tree, and Hadley wondered whether to flee or hold his ground as it moved closer. Then a soft, surprisingly human voice came out of the darkness. "I know your scent. It's been so long... I've grown so weak, but now I feel my strength returning. It _is_ you."

"I didn't know," Hadley said quickly, hoping the creature wasn't one of the many who would gladly feast on his mixed blood. Maybe it had a benign reason for practically salivating at the scent of his flesh. _'Yeah, right.'_ "I didn't know who my mother was until I came here. I would have done things a lot differently if I'd known."

There was a long pause. "Dance with me," the creature said.

Hadley frowned. Was this the price it required for helping him? And was it as easy to pay as it sounded, or-?

No, this was Faerie. It was much more likely that the required dance would shave years off of Hadley's life, or be part of a ritual to summon some sort of demon, or-

A horn blew in the distance, accompanied by a sound of howling and baying.

 _'The Hunt!'_

Hadley ran, thrashing through the trees in a blind panic. They'd figured out he was in the forest, there was no way he could outrun them, they'd catch him, they'd rip him to pieces and eat what was left of him...

His leg was sending fierce waves of pain throbbing through him. His chest hurt and it was hard to breathe, thorns were scratching at his face and arms. The sounds of the Hunt were growing closer.

A shriek pierced the night, so loud and eldritch that it sent a stab of fresh terror through Hadley's whole body. He did not know who or what had made that terrible sound, but he never wanted to find out.

He was tiring. He couldn't tell if it was branches or fast-flying pixies nipping and stabbing at him now. There was a cacophony much too close behind him, as if the Hunt had turned on itself and fae were slaughtering each other. Didn't matter; if he fell into their clutches, he was dead whether they realized he was their quarry or were simply blind in their bloodthirsty madness. He had to run until his legs gave out, claw his way to freedom until the life left his body.

Something snatched him up. He screamed, then screamed again when he realized that his captor's leap had carried them both onward to the sky, that they were not descending. "No-!"

Fae shrieked behind them. Hadley's captor wheeled around, and Hadley caught a glimpse of the swarm of creatures heading straight for him. Before he could cry out, he was dropped.

o.o.o.o.o

He expected to feel a painful impact and then death, but instead, he woke up in pitch darkness and silence. Flailing around in a panic, he discovered that he'd been lying on a straw pallet in what might have been some sort of cave. He tripped over several unidentifiable items on the floor before something appeared in the darkness: two glowing green eyes.

Hadley went still. "Did you...bring me here?"

The eyes approached. Hadley swallowed and resisted the impulse to run. He had nowhere to escape to, and couldn't see where he was going even if he tried.

The creature did not pause, and when it came too close for comfort, Hadley flinched and turned away, raising his hand in a feeble defense.

But the arms and wings that encircled him were gentle, the sigh content, the head resting on his shoulder warm and human-like. "Hiccup Haddock," the fae murmured. "My brother-of-the-heart. You came back to me."

Hadley froze. Only two people besides himself knew his true name, and one of those people was dead. The other had green eyes and elfin ears and smooth scales, which Hadley could now feel under his hesitantly exploring fingertips. "Toothless Daydream," he realized, speaking the true name of his fae brother-of-the-heart. " _Nightfury_. Nightfury, I had no idea it was you! I'm so glad to see you!"

"See... Ah- I forgot. You are a day-creature, you need your light." There was a blast of fire, and then a lamp was burning with white-purple light. Nightfury, clearly visible to Hadley's eyes at last, examined his own hand for a moment, then smiled at Hadley. "It's been a long time since I was able to do that."

"Th- I mean, I'm so glad you rescued me," Hadley said, remembering just in time to avoid the human expression of gratitude that fae found offensive. "It's been _awful_ , Fury, I don't know how you can stand living in this hellhole!"

Nightfury cocked his head. "Your iron world is the awful one."

"At least no one there is trying to kill me."

Nightfury frowned. "They were hunting you," he remembered. "They wanted to _hurt_ you."

"I don't belong here, Nightfury. I've been trying to get home."

Nightfury hissed. "No. I just got you back, I won't lose you again!"

Hadley thought a moment. Then he took Nightfury's hands and said gently, "You saved my life, so I owe you a dance. That's the payment you wanted, isn't it?"

"I will never collect your debt, or you will leave me again!" Nightfury cried. "If you don't dance with me, I will grow weak again! You want to kill me, Hiccup!"

"No, Fury. Listen. You need a dance every full moon, right? And I need to go home. I'll give you a dance every month for the rest of my life if you help me stay safe at home where I belong."

"The gate to Earth is _closed_."

"But I can open it again, can't I? That's why everyone wants to kill me. But if I make a gate _willingly_ , if I give you the key to it, I won't have to die and you can come see me whenever you want."

Nightfury frowned suspiciously.

Hadley put a hand on his shoulder. "I don't want to escape _you_. _You_ are welcome any time, as often as you want. It's only this world I want to escape. I want to go home to my dad, I want to hang out with my friend - that's you - without worrying about who I'm offending or what taboo I'm breaking or how much I'll have to pay for it later. I'm human, Nightfury. I want to live in a world where I can be your friend for free. Where we can care about each other without thinking about alliances and politics and how we can use each other."

Nightfury burst into tears and hugged him again, this time as if he sought comfort. "I don't understand you, Hadley! You're too good, you say these crazy scary wonderful things and they're the _truth_ , I love you so much, look how I bare my heart to you, I'm completely at your mercy but you are _kind_ to me, you crazy human...!"

o.o.o.o.o

Nineteen years later, Earth time, Lily Vast was sitting forlornly in the garden at midnight. Her mother was staying the night with her father; the crying twins were being fussed over by Grandpa Stoick and Great-Uncle Gobber; her stupid brother Stoick was asleep and didn't care that Daddy was in the hospital.

A young man stepped out of the shadows, so silently and gracefully that Lily wasn't startled. She simply stared, speechless at the sight of his wings. "Hello, Lily," he said.

"Grandpa will kill you if he sees you."

"I won't let him see me."

"You're not allowed to kidnap me."

"I won't."

"Who are you?"

"Your fairy godfather."

She was silent. He did have wings, after all.

"I came to collect a debt, Lily."

"What's that?"

"Your father owes me a dance. But he won't be able to dance again for many moons, so you will pay his debt for him."

"Daddy's in the hospital."

"Yes. I just came from there. Only for his sake would I brave so much iron."

"He lost his leg. It got hurt so bad that they had to cut it off."

"Yes. I was sad to see him so wounded, but...he smiled at me. It isn't so terrible a loss as I thought at first. I forgot that there is another kind of beauty."

There was a long silence. Then Nightfury held out his hand, and Lily took it, and for the next few hours, she knew what it was like to fly.

o.o.o

Author's Notes: I wrote this a long time ago, but finally got around to typing it because my friend Anna wanted to see it. :)

I'm not currently planning to write any more in this AU (I don't have any ideas, for one thing), this was just meant to be a standalone vignette for one of the theme challenges I'm working on.

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. I've been busy and have had writer's block.


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